Chapter 259: The Great Ad Reveal (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 259: The Great Ad Reveal (2)
It all started with a single review.
≫ Lee Cheong-hyeon’s pictorial that makes you admit he’s today’s top male idol visual.
No words needed.
Just pure art.
└ Wow.
└ Saved.
Starting with SNS and online communities, where entertainment news travels the fastest, Lee Cheong-hyeon’s face spread like wildfire.
≫ Putting everything else aside,
Is this even a human face?
Even the Creator is being ridiculous. How can there be such blatant favoritism for one member?
Michelangelo wouldn't have worked this hard on the Creation of Adam.
└ I can’t believe it either, but I’m someone who’s seen him in person, so I have no choice but to believe… Lee Cheong-hyeon is the real deal.
└ Friend, we agreed to share things like that with each other in "brick-sized" detailed reviews. Is that all our friendship is worth?
└ Is that all our friendship is worth? x2
≫ Kim ??: You want a spoiler for Cheong-hyeon’s pictorial? It feels like sunflowers blooming in the Arctic.
└ When I watched Bubble Pop, I thought our boys were really strict about confidentiality, but looking at this pictorial, Kim I-wol basically gave us everything. That makes me even saltier.
└ Kim I-wol’s pride is at stake, so fans, please stop trying to battle him with simping comments. We’ve already utterly lost.
└ I’m seriously curious about what goes on in I-wol’s head… How do those words come out of him so effortlessly?
≫ Who is this man?
I want to know this man’s name.
View Original
└ He is Cheonghyeon of the Spark.
└ Please tell me this man’s nickname. Cheong-hyeon is too long. :face_with_tears_of_joy: View Original
└ It’s not long in Korean, ffs. Even when someone tells you in English, you still b*tch about it. You use Kor plz. :face_with_tears_of_joy::face_with_tears_of_joy:
Aside from a few strange things mixed in, the reaction to Lee Cheong-hyeon’s pictorial was nothing short of hot.
With the emergence of photos that make even non-fans save them—the so-called "Save Even If Not A Fan" photos—Lee Cheong-hyeon became known to a much wider world.
Some might ask if I’m getting too excited over one viral hit, but in the entertainment industry, nothing is more important than trending.
How long do you think it takes for a photo circulating only among idol fans to travel through SNS and reach the marketers of various brands?
≫ (Shared) Lee Cheong-hyeon’s pictorial that makes you admit he’s today’s top male idol visual.
└ I came in here wondering, "Who’s Lee Cheong-hyeon?" but you’re certainly making me admit it…
└ I wonder if I’m even worthy of admitting it…
└ I’m leaving after experiencing what it feels like to have my eyes cleansed.
≫ The male idol who rewrote the history of pictorials.
└ @sui_2__ Say hello to my boyfriend.
└ Even accounting for editing, this is insane.
└ All that talk about there being no visuals among recent male idols was a lie.
└ Damn…
≫ If you miss out on this face, you’ve lost your touch.
└ I naturally assumed it was a fashion magazine pictorial, so am I the only one shocked it’s for Indenia?
└ No, anyone would’ve thought this was the main pictorial for this month’s Pogue.
‘At least one ad should come in for Lee Cheong-hyeon within the year.’
It wasn't a KPI or a formal task, but it was rewarding. For starters, Song Min-il would probably look down on Lee Cheong-hyeon a bit less. That alone felt like a weight off my chest.
Just as I was basking in the warm reception, the System appeared over my phone.
+
[SYSTEM] Party B’s ‘Morning Star Smile that Charms the Masses’ is activated. A tremendous influence is generated.
+
Morning Star Smile that Charms the Masses?
I didn't sell anything like that. Right now, I’m just lying on the sofa with a lazy smile on my face.
And if it’s supposed to "charm the masses," then about ten thousand new fans should be flowing in…
+
[SYSTEM] Party B is notified of the progress for KPI ‘Capturing the Hearts of Potential Customers.’
▷ 2,053/10,000
+
…is what I was going to say.
The number of potential customers had increased shockingly. My hand instinctively went to my eyes.
I rubbed them a few times and looked again, but the number hadn't changed. It meant I hadn't misread it. Maybe it was because the System had included a comma for me.
‘Was there something that could have attracted new fans? There weren't any shots of me smiling in my pictorial.’
I did smile in the group pictorial, but I didn't think I would gain fans from that. That was because Jeong Seong-bin was right next to me, flashing a real Morning Star Smile. A fake "walnut cake" smile like mine wouldn't have even stood out.
If it wasn't the pictorial, where did this unknown algorithm kick in?
I bolted upright on the sofa. Then, I began scouring my phone.
After a long period of humiliating ego-surfing, I arrived at a certain video.
≫ Idol Dynasty Annals FINAL – Spark ‘Market Price Song’ (I-wol Fancam ver.)
#IdolDynastyAnnals #Awangsil #AwangsilFinalCompetition #Spark #spArk #MarketPriceSong #Iwol #KimIwol
It was my fancam from back during Idol Dynasty Annals.
≫ I came here because I got interested after seeing his pictorial, and I fell for this man’s smile.
≫ He was a man who knew how to smile like this? You seem so unfamiliar…
└ If you watch the Adan-un videos from this year, you can see a whole field of smiles.
≫ I watched wondering, "Why does he only appear halfway through? Is it for a surprise effect?" then I was shocked by the comment saying he performed right after a head injury… I replayed the smiling part about 30 times, then got shocked again seeing he was carried off as soon as the stage ended… I don’t know what this feeling is, but I just want to cheer for him. Am I stanning?
└ Welcome to the fandom.
└ Our eldest is a hardworking idol who works until his body breaks. Let’s stan him together.
└ I-wol, are you watching? People are recognizing how hard you worked.
≫ It’s one thing to be good on stage, but you can really feel that he’s giving it his all.
I hope this kid doesn't lose his rookie mindset.
I didn't know what the previous view count of the video was. Things like my own fancam views weren't part of my monitoring duties.
However, I could guess just by sorting the comments by "Newest."
Starting with this fancam, related videos, photos, and content had been linked, exposing Kim I-wol to a significant number of people. Enough to easily surpass 1,500.
+
[SYSTEM] A work directive from the ‘Person in Charge’ has arrived.
▶ You know that thing Assistant Manager Kim did before. It’s still fine, so just fix the necessary parts and put it out as is!
+
Since it was an effect created by multiple overlapping issues rather than a single event, not all the new fans were counted as potential customers.
However, it didn't ignore past efforts either.
The System seemed to have calculated the number of new fans to be around 1,500 by considering these factors.
If that was the case, it felt a bit unpleasant. Are people objects? To be calculated one by one like market prices or yields.
Still.
≫ I just want to cheer for him.
Still…
I was grateful to be shown things like this. If it weren't for the KPI, I would have never known.
≫ I-wol, are you watching?
My eyes wouldn't leave the screen.
≫ People are recognizing how hard you worked.
I read those comments for a long time, until the members called for me.
By the time the recording for the B-side tracks was finished, it was already past midnight. As Jeong Seong-bin emerged from the booth looking half-dead, Park Ju-woo rushed out to meet him with open arms.
“Cheong-hyeon, are you going to do the mixing this time too?”
“Probably?”
“Will the schedule allow it?”
I flipped a page on the desk calendar, revealing the comeback date marked in large letters. Calculating backward for the album production period and the Highlight Medley production schedule, the remaining time was incredibly short.
Because working on the pre-release track and the title track alone had been grueling, Lee Cheong-hyeon was in a near-possessed state.
The rest of us weren't in great shape either. It was a relief that the choreography for both songs wasn't too taxing. If it had been, all of Spark would be sprawled out right now, as limp as pickled scallions.
“If Seong-bin Hyung doesn't label me as someone who stays up late… it might be possible.”
Lee Cheong-hyeon said, glancing at Jeong Seong-bin, who was sitting on the sofa at the back of the recording studio. Watching his younger teammate, Jeong Seong-bin sighed.
“…Only until the comeback.”
“Spark’s music prodigy Cheong-hyeon will be running at full capacity 24 hours a day starting today!”
“Even so, 24 hours is too much.”
At the leader’s firm words, Lee Cheong-hyeon burst out laughing.
We joked and chatted while tidying up the recording studio. As we were almost ready to leave, I turned to Park Ju-woo.
“Choi Je-ho and Gi-yeon haven't said they’re leaving yet, right? Should we head to the practice room?”
The rap line, who had finished recording first, had left early to check the choreography videos. It was like a conveyor belt; everyone would scatter to do one job, then gather again, repeating the process.
The recording studio, which had been full of banter, suddenly went quiet.
“Uh… well…”
“Well?”
Park Ju-woo avoided my gaze.
A sense of foreboding washed over me. Don't tell me those two fought again? Did you send them out to settle it with a rap battle without me knowing? If that’s the case, I’m learning diss rap starting today. I’ll release a five-track mixtape with your names as the titles and re-debut as ‘Ice Blood,’ the cold-blooded rapper who shows no mercy even to his teammates.
Seeing me tremble, Lee Cheong-hyeon waved his hands dismissively.
“Checking the choreography videos was a lie! That was finished ages ago. Spark is a group of professional idols who don't procrastinate.”
“What?”
“Those two went back to the dorm first with a heavy mission. Manager Chan-yeong dropped them off earlier.”
A heavy mission.
It had to be a rap battle. A battle where the loser gets another "stigma" from Jeong Seong-bin for disrupting the team atmosphere.
“What’s the mission?”
“It’s top secret.”
Lee Cheong-hyeon said solemnly. If I measured my blood pressure right now, it would probably show I was in the high-risk category.
“You’re curious, aren't you?”
“Even if I am, you’re not going to tell me, right?”
“Hyung, you know me too well.”
Lee Cheong-hyeon winked. No matter how I looked at it, the Morning Star Smile service should have gone to him. They could have given it a name like "Gold-Dust-Sprinkled Aurora Natural Rainbow Morning Star Smile."
“If you’re curious, let’s head to the dorm!”
Lee Cheong-hyeon gestured toward the recording studio door with both arms.
When we finally arrived at the dorm, on the living room wall…
“You’re here?”
“Oh, you really installed it exactly like we discussed? Did it take long?”
“Not really. Except for the part where Je-ho Hyung almost broke it in the middle, it was quick.”
…There was a rectangular black object hanging there, the kind you’d see in a restaurant.
What do you call that…
A call monitor? A receiver?
And why… did these guys install it?